Black Sabbath stars reunite for new album and tour

The original members of Black Sabbath have confirmed they’re heading back into the studio to record an album of new material with top producer Rick Rubin.

Ozzy Osbourne, Bill Ward, Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler reunited for a press conference at the Whiskey A-Go-Go in Los Angeles on Friday morning – the 41st anniversary of their first concert at the fabled venue – to announce big plans for 2012.

As well as recording their first studio album together since 1978, the group will tour the world and headline Britain’s Download Festival in June.

Earlier this month, guitarist Iommi revealed the band had secretly regrouped and rehearsed at Osbourne’s home in California.

He told Billboard.com, “It was for a bit of fun, and to see if we could all play. It was good, but it was just purely, ‘Let’s have a go and see what happens.’”

The four original members of the group reunited on and off between 1997 and 2006 for live events, but a feud over the band’s name drove a wedge between Iommi and Osbourne and led to a brief legal battle which has since been dropped.